Dreamforce 2017 Recap: What you need to know

Another Dreamforce is in the books. Every year, the event gets bigger and more exciting as technology evolves and more users join the platform.

Whether you attended Dreamforce or not, we put together a quick summary of the core topics discussed at the event. It’s always a good idea to keep these topics in mind as you build your future roadmap for Salesforce 1, 3 and 5 years out. Dreamforce is a great place to start planning and budgeting for new apps and new features that will impact your business. You can also watch many of the keynotes and sessions here.

Salesforce is investing A LOT in professional development for its users and partners

The Salesforce platform is growing at such a rapid rate there is a shortage of available resources that are hindering the scalability of the ecosystem. That’s good news for employees who are looking for well-paying jobs with advancement opportunities. According to PayScale, a Salesforce Administrator earns an average salary of $63,344 per year. There’s also an explosion of opportunities for developers, architects, marketing automation specialists and implementation consultants.

Trailhead was discussed at nearly every session, keynote and product zone. Trailhead is a gamified way of learning the platform at your own pace and working towards basic and advanced certifications. It’s also a great training venue for new employees to get behind the platform.

Equality and social good lead to more successful businesses

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has long been a champion of corporate social responsibility and promoting gender equality. In fact, he has made a point of ensuring every executive meeting includes at least 30% females. Beyond that, Benioff believes that diverse teams are stronger and more successful. “Equality is a core tenet of how we run our business. Each day we work to build a path forward to equality for all,” Benioff said. The company is focusing on 5 key areas of equality: public education, gender equality, LGBTQ equality, diversity and environment.

Watch for more investments in Artificial Intelligence

For most typical Salesforce users, AI is still a somewhat distant reality but Salesforce is rapidly intensifying its push towards AI. Salesforce Einstein is already available for many Salesforce products, and investment in this area will continue to grow. Salesforce has also enlisted power-player partners such as IBM to make their vision for AI come to fruition and lead the charge in the “fourth industrial revolution.”

Much of the discussion on AI focused on intelligent marketing and using intelligence from every touchpoint to alert sales reps when consumers are ready to buy or suggest other products the customer may be interested in. That requires a unified, single view of the system using all the great integrations and integration capabilities of the Salesforce platform.

Customers will grow their ROI with Salesforce through a “lead-to-cash” strategy

Nuvem has long been an advocate of using Salesforce to run your business from a lead’s first interaction with your website to the moment a customer pays their bill. Every year, the ability to grow into this strategy becomes easier and more valuable.

Salesforce CPQ (formerly Steelbrick), for example, now comes with an invoicing feature that will compete with other ERPs such as Financial Force and Accounting Seed. Bringing as many, or all, accounting functions into Salesforce provides a more seamless process for employees and customers.

Google users will benefit from new partnership

Salesforce announced a new partnership with Google, which will further enhance Google Analytics capabilities and provide users with additional integration capabilities for Google Apps and Salesforce. Marketers will be able to gain new consumer insights so they can deliver the most relevant experience at the right moment—whether that’s talking to a sales person, opening an email, visiting a website, clicking an ad, or searching on Google.

The G Suite integration will tie Google mail, sheets, calendar and more with Salesforce. Click here to learn more.

Google is offering eligible Salesforce customers company-wide G Suite licenses at no additional cost for up to one year, providing them with a quick and easy way to kick-start their collaborative cloud experience. Click here to sign up for the promotion.

Enjoy a revamped Appexchange

With so many apps and partners, there are a lot of choices and specialities now available in the AppExchange. Finding the right partner or app for your situation can be difficult but Salesforce has made it easier with refined organization and layout. Reviews and customer ratings are now featured more prominently so you can do your due diligence in making the right choice.